Pet peeve about how people date ancient pottery shards

I keep seeing folks on here post photos of pot sherds and immediately call them Roman or Greek without looking at the rim profile or the temper in the clay. Just a few weeks ago a guy claimed his piece was 2000 years old, but the sand grit was clearly modern manufactured. How do you tell the difference between a real ancient find and something that washed out of a 19th century trash pit?

2 comments

2 Comments

smith.anna17d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah the 19th century thing trips up a lot of people. The first thing I look at is the clay matrix. Ancient sherds usually have crushed rock or grog mixed in, not the uniform sand you get from modern industrial processes. I've seen pieces that looked Roman at first glance but had a bright orange core from modern kiln firing, which is a dead giveaway. What do you use to check the temper, a 10x loupe or just your fingers?

claire_hart5317d ago

Oh please, you can feel Roman pottery by the weight alone.